The present invention relates generally to systems for controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine in the event of a sensor failure, and more specifically to such systems operable to control an air handling system of the engine in the event of such a failure.
A wide variety of engine and/or vehicle operating condition sensors have been developed to provide information useful for controlling engine and/or vehicle operation. Many such sensors provide information that is critical to the control of engine operation, and engine operation may be compromised when such sensors fail.
In the event of critical sensor failure, modern engine control techniques typically implement one or more known recovery strategies. One such recovery strategy serves to derate engine fueling, and another known strategy implements one or more so-called xe2x80x9climp homexe2x80x9d algorithms that allow the vehicle carrying the engine to operate with minimum functionality until engine/vehicle service can be provided.
Oftentimes, such critical failures do not extend to failure of other system componentry, and are instead confined only to failure of one or more sensors. What is therefore needed is a sensor failure accommodation system that allows for greater engine/vehicle functionality upon detection of one or more sensor failures. The present invention provides such a sensor failure accommodation system.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments.